Yet More Podcast Reviews

I warned you! I told you I had content queued up! I told you I was listening and knitting and I had lots of podcasts to listen to.

Cast On: This is one of the biggies. Brenda Dayne is a regular and her podcast is like a knitting news show. Apparently, she had been doing a series of essays over the summer and my sample episodes were the tail end. I found them interesting although I’m not sure I would listen to them again. She has the more traditional podcast format of talking interspersed with music, as do others that will follow in the entries to come. She also has snippets from other podcast regulars, a form of non-commercial advertisement. She finishes up with ‘beads’ which are like badges in Girl and Boy Scouts. You get them for different things. The noise level was high when I was listening to this one and the short little clips about the beads didn’t always register. I’ll be listening to more of Brenda’s podcasts so will provide an update if I am incorrect.

Changeling’s Knit and Spin: This is from Down Under. I loved it. It is quirky and entertaining. Changeling discusses a gift quest she undertook for her mother. It was successful but I liked it because her family and philosophy come through and make you feel as if you know her. She then does ‘Characters from the Yarn Store’ which was fun. She has a wry sense of humor which I enjoyed. She describes her Thrifty Knitter Challenge – what can you find for your fiber enjoyment for a $1 or less? Her voice is calming and very pleasant to listen to. She ends with announcements for new podcasts, one of which is the first one I reviewed – A Very Palpable Knit.

Fiber Cult: This is a frequently updated blog by 6 women. We are listening in on their knit and chat session. They discuss their current projects, yarn they've come across, yarn diets, knitting disasters, dyeing fiber, and other fiber-related topics. Very warm and entertaining but not something I'd listen to on a regular basis. When I say this, it is not because I didn't enjoy the episodes I listened to or that others might not. It is just that I'm not looking for that particular type of podcast. I find my mind wanders a lot when the topic isn't something I'm interested in and the end result is that I come back minutes later and find them discussing something I want to listen to and I have to go back and find the beginning of the topic. So it isn't as smooth from a knitting perspective as I'd like it to be. I want a podcast that is mostly things I'd want to listen to and that keeps me focused.

Now, for a taste of things to come, I am knitting away on socks. I finished the Blue Frog Rainforest ones and am now knitting Schmetterling (Butterfly). I am loving this after the Frog ones. The Frog has lovely colors but they are long stretches of each one which make for boring knitting. The Butterfly colors change frequently and I like that. But that is just an aside. I uploaded pictures of my Owl socks and my next blog post is going to be about the heel that I make for myself. It is a modified short row heel that I love and that fits my high-arched foot really well.